A classy cru bourgeois from Cussac, just south of St-Julien. With virtually equal shares of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, spiced up with 3% Petit Verdot, this is a suave Haut-Médoc with bramble fruit and classic, cool Bordeaux tannins, while retaining the generosity and balance of the 2016 vintage.

I chose one of the least expensive reds on the list, even though the 2016 Beaumont came in at £60 per bottle. But what I got is a fine example of a great vintage, one where you don’t need to travel to the top of the hierarchy to find delicious wine. Lavished with black fruit, tobacco and a light tang of seaweed on the nose, this has youthful zest but equal class and composure. That translates onto the palate: a quintessential Haut-Médoc that’s just beginning to drink well, pliant tannins with a caressing, quite pure blackberry and cedar finish. No complaints here.

The 2016 Beaumont, owned by Suntory and Castel, has a rather conservative bouquet, a little backward and surly compared to its peers with undergrowth aromas coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, quite lithe and agile in the mouth, a wine willing to go out and please and not worry too much about cellaring. Whilst it does not quite have the complexity of the 2015, it is still a mouthful of potentially delicious wine.